The defense of Major General Victor Nazarov, accused of the death of 49 Ukrainian servicemen in June 2014, asks the court to acquit him citing the absence of a crime in his actions.

According to him, the defense seeks to cancel the preventive measure for Nazarov in the form of 97,400 hryvnia ($3,593) bail and close the criminal proceedings.

The lawyer claims it is wrong to qualify Nazarov's actions as "combat situation." He explained that if the prosecution charges Nazarov with official negligence in a "combat situation," then "it defines terrorists as a military adversary, that is, a belligerent party, not terrorists."

In his last word Nazarov pleaded not guilty. He says the manipulation of information and biased interpretation of facts occurred in the testimony of witnesses during the trial. According to him, the court also did not present the original document with intelligence about the situation at the Luhansk airport.

Dec. 17, 2015, the Pavlohrad city district court of the Dnipropetrovsk region started the trial in the case of the killing of 49 Ukrainian military in the Il-76 plane over Luhansk.

The court tries one man - Major General Viktor Nazarov, who commanded the ATO Staff at that moment. He is charged under part 3 article 425 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (habitual negligence in office during war, causing grave consequences).

According to the conclusion of the commission that has carried out a complex military-tactical criminalistic analysis, Nazarov was the one directly obliged to take measures to suppress the air defense of terrorists and ensure the safety of Il-76 flight over enemy-controlled Luhansk on June 14, 2014.

The investigators have interrogated 132 witnesses and conducted 112 examinations.

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